NazNet Updates

[G R 'Scott' Cundiff]

I had a security update to do on the vBulletin forum software today, and just completed it. I doubt that are any new features that our users will even see. However, keep your eye on things. If something you like is missing let me know. I wouldn't be real surprised if something changed -- I updated nearly every file that makes the software work.

I know our users don't think much about stuff like this, but the columns down the left side of some of the pages and the way pages like NazNet Central, the Gospel ABC's and several other pages seem to be integrated in the forum is accomplished by another program called vBAdvanced. It so happens that they came out with an update too. So I also updated that program too. However, that's another one that is more for the site manager than the users.

And, while I was at it, I installed the latest version of the Thank You hack, a popular add on feature of NazNet. The biggest thing from my point of view is that this upgrade is supposed to make it easier to upgrade in the future -- I'm all for that! From the user's point of view, the "huge" change is that it now appears at the end of the bottom of the post options. From what I can see, the other new features won't get any use here (the ability to disable "thanks" on specific forums comes to mind).

[Belinda Y. Edwards]

just something for us, moderators, to really watch out for. i am use to the thanks button being on the opposite side. i just went to click the thank you for this post and ooopsie - immediately i was in your edit box. Kinda scared me a minute. *grins*

just saying

[Michael B. Ross]

Scott, as you know, I have purchased vBulletin. I also paid for a professional installment. Two days after it was installed, they came out with a new version. vBulletin installed it quickly and at no additional cost.

Then, two days later, they came out with another upgrade. I could have emailed them and asked them to install it, and I am sure they would have, but I did it myself. I was sooooo proud of myself. It was actually easier than I thought. I am glad it wasn't my money paying for the installment. :basic03

I also had installed the Thank You hack, which I think is a great addon.

When I got home tonight, I had this email message:
Abe1 has updated the following hack:

[AJAX] Post Thank You Hack
http://www.vbulletin.org/forum/showthread.php?threadid=122944

This is the update reason that the user gave:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Version 6.2 (05/21/07):
Fixed a template caching bug.
No file edits. Just upload the product XML.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Yours,
The vBulletin.org Forum team

I am assuming that they went ahead and updated the Thank You hack. Is that how you read it.

Anyhow, I have found the program to be outstanding, somewhat easy to work with, and the vBulletin folks very nice and helpful.

Edited to add: I realized after posting that the email I received was simply informing me of the update. I have installed/imported it. I am getting the hang of all of this stuff.

I had a security update to do on the vBulletin forum software today, and just completed it. I doubt that are any new features that our users will even see. However, keep your eye on things. If something you like is missing let me know. I wouldn't be real surprised if something changed -- I updated nearly every file that makes the software work.

I know our users don't think much about stuff like this, but the columns down the left side of some of the pages and the way pages like NazNet Central, the Gospel ABC's and several other pages seem to be integrated in the forum is accomplished by another program called vBAdvanced. It so happens that they came out with an update too. So I also updated that program too. However, that's another one that is more for the site manager than the users.

And, while I was at it, I installed the latest version of the Thank You hack, a popular add on feature of NazNet. The biggest thing from my point of view is that this upgrade is supposed to make it easier to upgrade in the future -- I'm all for that! From the user's point of view, the "huge" change is that it now appears at the end of the bottom of the post options. From what I can see, the other new features won't get any use here (the ability to disable "thanks" on specific forums comes to mind).

[Jon Twitchell]

Scott,

Not for nothing, but I'm not a fan of the way the recent posts now appear on the Naznet Central page. No biggie...but if it was something that bothered enough people and wasn't hard to fix, I thought I'd let you know.

Thanks for all you do to keep NazNet running smoothly!

Peace,

Jon

[G R 'Scott' Cundiff]

Jon, I agree -- I just removed that module from the NazNet Central.

Scott,

Not for nothing, but I'm not a fan of the way the recent posts now appear on the Naznet Central page. No biggie...but if it was something that bothered enough people and wasn't hard to fix, I thought I'd let you know.

Thanks for all you do to keep NazNet running smoothly!

Peace,

Jon

[G R 'Scott' Cundiff]

Then, two days later, they came out with another upgrade. I could have emailed them and asked them to install it, and I am sure they would have, but I did it myself. I was sooooo proud of myself. It was actually easier than I thought. I am glad it wasn't my money paying for the installment. :basic03

Very good! If you don't add many hacks, upgrading is not that hard as you found.


Edited to add: I realized after posting that the email I received was simply informing me of the update. I have installed/imported it. I am getting the hang of all of this stuff.

You've added that hack at just the right time. Up to now upgrades required template edits. Now it has been automated and when vBulletin is updated it won't break the Thank you hack as it has done all along.

[Jon Twitchell]

Jon, I agree -- I just removed that module from the NazNet Central.

Let me clarify...

I like the module... (I miss it, now that it's gone). I didn't like the way that it changed.

Personally, I'd rather have it appear in its updated form than not at all.

But I'm only one person, so don't make changes based on me!

:)

[Jeremy D. Scott]

Scott -

I used that section too. However, I didn't like it's appearance lately either.

The reason I like it is because I am addicted to the quick menu, and I used "Naznet Central" to get to the latest posts.

I think I would be even more satisfied if this bottom link of the quick menu (which is currently "Naznet Central") were switched to "New Posts," which is better than that latest posts module on Naznet Central anyway.

I'm not sure I just made any sense.

[G R 'Scott' Cundiff]

Check out NazNet Central now and let me know if it is more in line with what you like.

It is showing the last 10 threads now.

[G R 'Scott' Cundiff]

I think I would be even more satisfied if this bottom link of the quick menu (which is currently "Naznet Central") were switched to "New Posts," which is better than that latest posts module on Naznet Central anyway.
.

Here's an easier way, I think, to do what you want. Create a bookmark to this address:
http://www.naznet.com/community/search.php?do=getnewThat will take you straight to the new posts results. That's how I almost always come to NazNet.

[Marsha Lynn]

Hey, Scott. I just posted a reply and got a message I hadn't seen before. It seems that Joel used too many "smilies" in his tale about his wife buying an expensive vacuum cleaner. When I left his post in my response and added one smilie of my own plus the quote tags, I received an error message saying that I was over the limit for special characters. Is that a new feature or have I just never quoted such an emoticonical post before? Is there a cap to the level of our excitement on NazNet now? What if I have six bold points to make some day? Will I be forced to either shave my thoughts down to three points or make them less boldly? I'm feeling a little cramped here.

:cool: :fav03 :fav11 :basic05

Marsha

[G R 'Scott' Cundiff]

That may be something that came up with the upgrade. What it does is add the number of smilies plus the number of attachments together and limits the total to whatever is set. I just increased that number to 8. However, the number of actual attachments that can be posted is still 4.

That means a person can do 8 smilies with no attachments, or 4 smilies with 4 attachments, etc.


Hey, Scott. I just posted a reply and got a message I hadn't seen before. It seems that Joel used too many "smilies" in his tale about his wife buying an expensive vacuum cleaner. When I left his post in my response and added one smilie of my own plus the quote tags, I received an error message saying that I was over the limit for special characters. Is that a new feature or have I just never quoted such an emoticonical post before? Is there a cap to the level of our excitement on NazNet now? What if I have six bold points to make some day? Will I be forced to either shave my thoughts down to three points or make them less boldly? I'm feeling a little cramped here.

:cool: :fav03 :fav11 :basic05

Marsha

[Jon Twitchell]

Check out NazNet Central now and let me know if it is more in line with what you like.

It is showing the last 10 threads now.

Thanks Scott!

That's definitely what I like....

But I'm only one person, so I'll be happy with whatever the majority likes.

Thanks again!

Jon

[Garth Lahana]

Hi all

I copied this (http://www.naznet.com/community/search.php?do=getdaily) link from the quick links menu at the top of the screen, and have added it to my Firefox shortcut toolbar. An easy way for me to see Today's Posts without too many clicks... :)

Garth

[Mike Schutz]

But I'm only one person

Jon, You so underestimate yourself!:basic05

[Jon Twitchell]

Jon, You so underestimate yourself!:basic05

Did you just call me fat?




:basic05

[Joanne Vergin]

just something for us, moderators, to really watch out for. i am use to the thanks button being on the opposite side. i just went to click the thank you for this post and ooopsie - immediately i was in your edit box. Kinda scared me a minute. *grins*

just saying

I did the same thing. I thought it was me.

[Jeremy D. Scott]

Check out NazNet Central now and let me know if it is more in line with what you like.

It is showing the last 10 threads now.

It looks great! I like how it shows the whole thread title rather than a snippet now.

I don't think it's showing threads from the Praise & Prayer Forum though.

[G R 'Scott' Cundiff]

It's been about 6 months since I've done any major work on NazNet, but I just finished what I think will speed things up a bit.

Not all vBulletin operators are as liberal in allowing photo attachments as is NazNet. In fact, I imagine NazNet is about as attachment friendly as you will find. Because of that, we've amassed a lot of pictures!

By default, vBulletin stores attachments in its database. However, the table holding attachments was 2.35 Gigs in size. That, according to my sources, puts a drag on the database and slows it down in about everything done on NazNet.

It took me about an hour to transfer all the images out of the database into their own directory on the server. All images were successfully transferred so nothing changed so far as content. However, I seems to me that I was successful in speeding things up a bit.

I don't think there is any downside to this change and I hope that everyone will feel that things are faster than they were.

[Dana Grant]

Thanks for all you do, Scott.

[Hans Deventer]

Thanks Scott! We really appreciate your work for NazNet. It's a ministry in itself.

[G R 'Scott' Cundiff]

It may be just my imagination but I do think things are just a tad faster. Has anyone else noticed?

[Hans Deventer]

I don't think it's showing threads from the Praise & Prayer Forum though.

Jeremy, you're right. I don't know why that is. Scott, any idea?

[G R 'Scott' Cundiff]

Nothing was changed that would do that. I am seeing all forums just fine -- and Ian and others have posted to that forum this morning so they are seeing it. Can you describe the problem you are having?

[Hans Deventer]

Nothing was changed that would do that. I am seeing all forums just fine -- and Ian and others have posted to that forum this morning so they are seeing it. Can you describe the problem you are having?

Yes. In the "Recent Threads" section of NazNet Central, the most recent threads are displayed. So I started a new thread on the prayer forum entitled "Testing". But it does not show on the "Recent Threads".

[G R 'Scott' Cundiff]

Yes. In the "Recent Threads" section of NazNet Central, the most recent threads are displayed. So I started a new thread on the prayer forum entitled "Testing". But it does not show on the "Recent Threads".

Now I understand what you are talking about. The prayer requests have never been shown in that section. It is limited to the more general forums.

[Gina Stevenson]

I don't think there is any downside to this change and I hope that everyone will feel that things are faster than they were.

'Wonder if some pics will load just a wee bit faster, even for dial-ups? 'Know that I've been avoiding threads :( that have quite a few pics (like, more than 3-4), tho' I love to see them, since they often do not fully load, even, or stop everything from working while trying to load.

[G R 'Scott' Cundiff]

'Wonder if some pics will load just a wee bit faster, even for dial-ups? 'Know that I've been avoiding threads :( that have quite a few pics (like, more than 3-4), tho' I love to see them, since they often do not fully load, even, or stop everything from working while trying to load.

Maybe, but not much. The page is still the same size either way. The speed up is that the server can put the page together more quickly than before. On your side, the wait is not so much for the server as it is for your internet connect.

In other words, no matter how quickly the server gets a page ready for you to see, it still waits for your internet connect to deliver it to you.

[Terri Knoll]

yes there was quite a drag loading the photo forum and the good clean fun forum for me but now things are zipping quite along!

thanx dude!

ps love the new grandchildren pic!

[G R 'Scott' Cundiff]

I've finished another round of upgrading for the NazNet server. I spent much of Sunday afternoon and night and part of Monday (June 30) updating some of the core server files.

We jumped from Apache 2.0 to Apache 2.2.9
We jumped from PHP 4.4.4 to PHP 5.2.5

The Apache jump was challenging because of some changes in the configuration files.

The PHP jump wasn't too bad, but it is a bit strange doing it on a Windows machine.

Anyway, I was able to fix some nagging problems and the result should be a more stable NazNet.

Some of you may have had posting problems during the work - I apologize for that. Restarting the server should only take a couple of seconds but if it is done at some key moment it can cause problems for people writing posts.

[Joanne Vergin]

Anyway, I was able to fix some nagging problems and the result should be a more stable NazNet.


That's a campaign promise if I ever heard one Scott! :laughing

[G R 'Scott' Cundiff]

I'll give you a quick update. The upgrades were quite successful. We had one class of server errors that were pretty serious and were responsible for some slow downs. I had put quite a bit of time into trying to isolate and fix the problem. I could never fix it and found some references to it being a bug that couldn't be fixed without an upgrade. I decided to go for the upgrades and hope that fixing one thing wouldn't break some others!

So far as I can tell it was a real success. That specific error is completely gone and that means the server is considerably more stable. There are some other minor errors that survived the upgrade, but they are small potatoes compared to the one that was concerning me.

So, I'm cautiously declaring victory for the time being!

[Cecil Wallace]

So far as I can tell it was a real success. That specific error is completely gone and that means the server is considerably more stable.

So, I'm cautiously declaring victory for the time being!
Congratulations.
I'll say one thing..... NazNet seems to be loading much faster early on this 4th of July.
I'm not seeing those "Waiting for NazNet.." messages like I have seen in the past. Hopefully it means something besides a not-so-busy internet.

Thanks for all your good work!